‘Battleship’ Featurette: Real Sailors Recruited to Battle Aliens

Between MMA fighter Gina Carano starring in this past January’s Haywire and real active-duty SEALs appearing in this month’s Act of Valor, there’s somewhat of a trend in filmmaking right now where true professionals are recruited to (essentially) play themselves onscreen. Oddly enough, that’s also the case with Universal’s upcoming Battleship movie.

That director Peter Berg’s adaptation of the classic Hasbro board game – which throws an alien invasion twist into the traditional naval warfare “plot” of the source material – could possibly be striving for true “authenticity” seems peculiar, to say the least. Based on the previous theatrical trailers and TV spots alike, it’s been pretty clear: this flick is a mindless bit of popcorn entertainment that rips off on par with the Transformers movies.

However, as can be noted from a new featurette for the film, real-life sailors and members of the U.S. Navy were indeed brought onboard (no pun) to ensure that all the Navy protocol, jargon, and fighting tactics on display in Battleship are indeed accurate. Everyone from the Battleship cast to production team were advised on matters ranging from how to conduct themselves – to what weaponry and equipment should be used in different situations – from legitimate members of the armed forces, who also served as extras in the film.

Find out more about just that by watching the Battleship “Real Heroes” featurette:

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It’s hard not to wonder: if the minds behind the Battleship adaptation were as dedicated to producing a grounded and realistic cinematic portrayal of the Navy (as is indicated in the clip above) then WHY didn’t they just devise a more straight-forward adaptation of the original board game? As opposed to the actual movie, which boasts many outright goofy elements – including Rhianna playing a naval petty officer and a storyline that involves giant extraterrestrial vehicles hiding beneath the ocean for an indefinite period of time, waiting to attack the unsuspecting citizens of Earth.

Whether or not Battleship will be good cheesy fun remains to be seen. However, those who go check the film out: believe it or not, you’ll be watching a “highly accurate” theoretical depiction of what the Navy would do, were it forced to do battle with actual armored alien invaders.

For more about Berg’s attempts to mimic realistic warefare tactics in Battleship, check out our Edit Bay Visit Report.